"Do you suppose it was Hank, who wanted to have some fun with us?" asked Fred.
Jack shook his head.
"At any other time I might believe it, but Hank isn't one to look for fun when the lives of two persons are in danger. It wasn't he."
"Who, then, could it be?"
Again Jack shook his head.
"You know there are a number of Indians hunting in this neighborhood. Some of them may have been near us, and, hearing our cries and the reports of our guns, started to find out what it meant. Coming upon my Winchester, they carried it off."
This was the most reasonable explanation they could think of, but it did not lessen their disappointment at the loss of the indispensable weapon.
"I won't stand it!" exclaimed Jack, whose indignation was rising; "the man who took that gun must give it back!"
It was impossible to know in what direction to look for the pilferer, but the youth's long strides led him toward the break in the walls of the canyon where they had seen the three Indians earlier in the forenoon. Whether it was reasonable to expect to find them, or rather the thief, there, would be hard to say, but Jack did find the one for whom he was looking.
Half the intervening distance was passed, when he turned his head and said in an excited undertone to his companion: